A faint, rhythmic beep and the soft hum of an air conditioner greeted him as he slowly returned to consciousness. His throat was dry and sore, and his chest felt as if someone had danced on it all night. He winced as his eyes slowly opened, his head protesting the fluorescent light overhead. As his eyes adjusted, he saw sterile white walls that were becoming all too familiar these days. He was lying in a bed, covered in white sheets. An IV fed fluids to his arm, and a pair of wires ran from his chest to the beeping machine he now recognized as a heart monitor. There was a simple stand by the bed, adorned with two bouquets of flowers, each resting in a clay vase. One was dominated by purple hyssop blossoms accented by white starbursts of angelica and red spines of aloe. The other was salvia, the red and blue blossoms rose like miniature pines and filled the air with a sweet aroma.
He scanned the room around him, noting that the door was closed and the walls were barren save for a softly ticking clock. A sink and cabinets were in the corner opposite the door. His gaze stopped as it fell upon an occupied chair. Seated there was a man, little more than a skeleton these days. His blonde hair was wild, and his eyes, when open were a shocking black marked with piercing blue irises. Now, however, they were closed. The man's chest rose and fell steadily. A clock on the wall read 3 PM.
"All Might?" Izuku tried to speak, but his voice was raw and hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. This time, his mentor stirred. As his, eyes opened, his gaze trained on his student. He yawed deep and long as he stretched.
"Yo," he finally greeted, raising a hand.
"How long have you been there?"
"Since around noon," he answered, all signs of fatigue fading from his posture. "When we got Aizawa's message, I was sent to pay a visit to Tartarus. By the time I was done, you all were already on your way down the mountain."
"Down the mountain…" Izuku repeated, processing the information with his scattered memory and sleep addled mind. It took only a moment for him to understand, and he shot up to a sitting position. His chest tightened painfully in response, and he coughed violently. All Might was at his side quickly, easing him back down and offering him a glass of water.
"Easy there, Young Midoriya," he spoke as his student chugged down the water. Recovery Girl hasn't been by to check on you yet. You're going to be sore for a little while yet."
Izuku took his words in stride, though "sore" seemed a gross understatement to him.
"What happened?" he asked as his coughing fit came back under control.
"Aizawa managed to alert Tsukauchi and the Principal of your predicament. Fortunately, they had already called for a search in the area, so it was only a matter of time before they reached you. You on the other hand," he added, poking him in the shoulder, "had your heart stopped by Shadowmark's plasma projection."
"I'm sorry," he answered, lowering his head in shame. He knew his teacher worried when he was injured, and part of him flinched when he considered how his mother might be responding to everything. He would need to call her when he had some time.
All Might sighed tiredly. "Young Uraraka told me what happened," he said. "Frankly, I can't say I'm surprised. It's exactly the sort of thing you would do. You're just lucky she was able to keep her thoughts level and give you the care you needed in the moment." As he finished, a slight smile spread across his face.
"How is everyone else?"
"Tired, but otherwise no worse for the wear save Young Kirishima, but he is expected to make a full recovery."
"Good," he said, face relaxing as he allowed relief to wash over him. He had put on a good front, but he had honestly wondered if any of them would make it out alive, let alone all of them.
"They were all pretty worried about you," All Might continued, drawing Izuku's attention again. "They're all here. Mandatory bed rest, the doctors said. Young Uraraka has been pushing the limit of how much they'll allow her to move about, though."
"How long was I out?" he asked, yawning.
"A few hours," All Might answered. Izuku nodded, eyelids drooping.
"Wait," he said, frowning. "You said you went to Tartarus. Was that…?"
All Might nodded, his expression dropping. "With Aizawa finding Shadowmark's real name, I went to have a chat with the creator of the nomu." He sighed and pulled his chair to the bedside so he could sit. "All for One only seems interested in talking when I'm present. He finds some sick satisfaction from his attempts to get a reaction from me. Still, he seemed almost proud to give us information on Shadowmark. It seems he was the first that he imparted multiple quirks to, the illusions, plasma projection, and warp that were so troublesome for you all came from him. The nomu he created were named for Shadowmark. In a way, he was the first of them, and all the more dangerous because he kept his intellect."
"That explains a lot of what happened," Izuku muttered. "But how did he always know where we were. I don't think it was an illusion he had under his mask. His eyes really were gone. But if that's the case, then he should have had difficulty finding us, let alone responding to our attacks. And how did he know that I was the one with One for All? All for One could have told him, but-"
"Hey," All Might said, trying to break the boy out of his muttering. Izuku apparently didn't hear him, because he kept talking. "Hey. HEY!" Izuku looked up, finally realizing that he had been talking over his teacher.
"Sorry," he mumbled meekly.
"It's fine," All Might said, waving off his apology. "There's another quirk he was given, though. The ability to read other people's quirks the way a telepath might read thoughts."
"Such a powerful quirk. Why would All for One give that away?"
"Why would he give away instant regeneration?" All Might shot back. "Because it was of more use to him in the hands of one of his lackeys than in his own. His willingness to spread power around is one of the reasons his followers have always been so fiercely loyal. But that is why he knew you as One for All, rather than Midoriya Izuku. It is very likely that he thought you were me."
"That would make-" Izuku began to answer, but another yawn interrupted him. All Might seemed to take that as a signal to end their discussion.
"That is enough information for now," he said, rising. "For now, you should rest. We can talk more later."
Izuku nodded, his eyes steadily falling. All Might refilled his cup before making his way to the door. As he pulled it open, he paused and turned back.
"You did well," he said. "All of you. You still have much to learn and plenty of growing to do, but against an enemy of that caliber, I cannot imagine any group of students performing so admirably."
He turned and offered Izuku a smile and a thumbs up. The student stared at him with wide eyes, not expecting the praise. If his teacher was put off by his lack of response, he didn't show it. His smile was still in place as he stepped through the door, leaving Izuku alone. He sighed, wincing at the pain in his chest, and leaned back into the bed. He turned to look at the flowers again and saw that there was a card in the hyssop bouquet. He picked it out and pulled it open, recognizing his mother's handwriting.
"I'll be back to see you later. I'm proud of you." it read. He smiled softly. He didn't know what she had been told, but she must have been worried. He placed the card back on the table. His eyelids were so heavy. He didn't remember closing them. When he opened them again, the clock read 8 PM, and he wasn't alone.
"Yeah," he heard Uraraka say. "He's still sleeping, but the doctors said he'll be okay."
He heard someone answer from the other end of the line, but the volume was too low to make out who it was or what was said. He turned his head so he could see her. She was seated in the chair All Might had vacated earlier. She was dressed casually, wearing a pink hoodie with a white blanket draped over her lap. When she saw him moving, her eyes widened.
"Deku!" she shouted involuntarily. The phone in her hand beeped. "Ack! I hung up!"
She tapped on the screen, typing out a quick message to whoever she had been talking to. Izuku couldn't help but chuckle lightly, but even that triggered another painful coughing fit. She offered him the cup from his nightstand, and he took it gratefully, downing the contents in two long pulls.
"Thanks," he said breathlessly. She nodded and took the cup from him. She refilled it at the sink and set it back on the nightstand before returning to her seat by the bed.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"I've been better," he answered wryly. "I feel like I took a Texas Smash to the chest." She laughed softly at the expression, eliciting a smile from him. "How are you feeling?"
Her smile faded slightly. "Physically, I'm fine. Recovery Girl was able to take care of me since my injuries weren't too bad. I'll probably be having nightmares for a little while though."
"We were lucky no one was hurt too badly," he said, nodding his understanding.
Apparently, he didn't understand as well as he thought, however, because her face clouded over, and she broke her gaze from his.
"Uraraka?"
"Ya know," she said, voice low. "You almost died." He stared at her, taking in her words in silence. All Might had told him what happened, but it didn't occur to him that his friends might have been afraid for him. Worried, sure, but not afraid.
"When I saw you weren't breathing," she continued. "I couldn't think. I was so scared you wouldn't wake up. That I would never get to talk to you again. That we couldn't laugh together anymore, or have fun or follow Iida's silly study strategies. When you finally woke up, I was so relieved." She fixed him with a hard stare before continuing. "Your life matters too, ya know."
He wasn't sure what to say. Of all the things she could have said, he hadn't expected that. He didn't regret his actions, he couldn't, but hearing her words, seeing the moisture in her eyes, he wished he had been able to do more. To save her without leaving her with the burden of his safety.
"Aaaah, that was way too gloomy," she sighed, smile returning. "Really, I should be thanking you for saving me. Still," her expression shifted to one of determination, "I'm gonna keep training so next time you won't have to."
"Yeah," he answered, smiling softly. "It was the same for me, you know?" Seeing her curious look, he continued. "When I saw Shadowmark targeting you, all I could think was that I didn't want you to die. If I had been faster, I probably could have gotten us both out of the way, but I'm not at that level yet. Besides, you saved me too, so I should be thanking you as well."
Her face grew red and she began to wave her hands about, flustered. "N-no, it was nothing really, anyone would have done that."
Izuku didn't really understand what had her so excited all of the sudden, but he couldn't help but smile at her energy, even if it was a little sheepish.
"You two are certainly energetic," a voice spoke from by the door. Todoroki was standing there, hands in his pockets. His expression was neutral, but Izuku had learned to recognize his stoic classmate's state of mind by his posture. Now it was relaxed.
"Todoroki," he greeted him. Oblivious to the relief on Uraraka's face.
"Aizawa sensei should be by with Recovery Girl soon," he said.
"Oh?" Kirishima exclaimed, peeking his head in the door. He turned to yell back over his shoulder. "Oi, Bakugo! Midoriya's awake!"
"Shut up!" the explosive teen snapped. "Like I care about stuff like that!"
"Don't be like-" he ended his sentence abruptly, a look of fear showing on his face.
"This is a hospital," Aizawa scolded them with a glare. "Keep your voices down."
Izuku swallowed hard at his teacher's tone, but couldn't help but feel amusement as his rambunctious classmates were corralled into his room. Aizawa spent some time debriefing them, filling in the gaps they had left in their hurried recountings and offering object lessons from their experiences. When he was finished, Izuku found himself ready to sleep again. Uraraka and Bakugo excused themselves, the former to allow him to sleep, the latter because he wanted to be anywhere else. Kirishima lingered, wanting to visit, and Todoroki stayed to keep him from staying too long. They talked for a while, filling the silence with small talk. Mostly empty, but it did a lot to lift his spirits while waiting for Recovery Girl to finish examining his charts and determine if it was safe to use her quirk.
"Man, you're lucky," Kirishima said as the conversation began to wind down, gesturing to the nightstand. "I think you're the only one that got flowers."
"Yeah," Izuku nodded. "I think they're both from my mom. There was only one card."
Todoroki tilted his head at that and glanced at the nightstand. Under the salvia bouquet was a red envelope, easily mistaken for a coaster under the vase. He lifted the vase and passed the card to his classmate, who took it with a surprised expression.
Izuku opened the envelope. Inside was a simple "Get Well Soon" card. On the back was written "The colors reminded me of All Might, so I thought you would like them. - Uraraka Ochaco" He read it twice, eyes growing wide. A girl had bought him flowers? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? It didn't matter that much to him. He decided to accept the gesture for what it was, thoughtful and kind, a bright spot on his day. The feeling of warmth he felt in his chest was a nice contrast to the pain.
"What's it say?" Kirishima asked.
"It's rude to ask that kind of thing," Todoroki pointed out.
"All well and good," Recovery Girl spoke up, interjecting. "But you two should go to bed. You're supposed to be discharged in the morning, and I need to heal Midoriya here."
They left without protest. They both knew better than to try. When they were gone, Recovery Girl planted a kiss on Izuku's cheek. He winced as he felt his ribs shift and knit back together, but when the healing was done, he sighed, relieved to finally have a reprieve from the pain. Then he yawned as the fatigue set in full force. The healer gave him a candy and bid him sleep. He didn't protest, laying back against the pillow. He fell asleep quickly, a contented smile on his face.
They were given the next day off from classes, and they each took advantage of it to visit home. The day after, they gathered with the rest of their classmates. The room was abuzz with chatter. Kaminari spoke energetically with Kirishima while Bakugo tolerated their presence beside his desk. The girls primarily congregated around Uraraka, occasionally shooting glances toward Izuku that went unnoticed as he spoke with Iida and Todoroki. The school had managed to spin the story of Shadowmark's capture in such a way to give the students a good share of the credit, thereby avoiding a potential scandal. None of them were complaining. There had been no way for anyone to know what would transpire on their mission, and being partially responsible for such a high profile capture could only help their future prospects. Even so, they each found themselves looking over their shoulder or hesitating before stepping through a door. It would be some time before they recovered a sense of normalcy.
"Alright, everyone to your seats," Aizawa ordered as he entered the room. "Class is starting."
The students moved quickly to obey, not willing to risk his ire first thing in the morning.
"Before we begin," he continued, a half crazed smile stretching across his face. "You have a quiz."
There was a beat, then two. Then the whole class groaned in dismay only to be silenced by a sharp look from their teacher. Then again, maybe things would be back to normal sooner than they thought.
Well that's that. Thank you all for reading this story. It's not without its flaws, but for a first effort, I feel pretty good about it. I learned a lot that will help me do a better job on future writing endeavors as well.
I'm gonna take a break for the rest of this month, but I'm going to begin working on a new story next month, so if you're interested, keep your eyes open for it to drop sometime in January.
Again, thank you all for reading, reviewing, and following this story to its conclusion. I hope you enjoyed it.
Until the next one,
MasterofDungeons.
